OnWednesday because of the heat, Coach Nancy modified our Yasso workout by doing 3 x (400-200 recov-800-200 recov) instead. It turned out well because it gave me more chance to rest and not push it so fast since City to the Sea 1/2 Marathon. Tonight was the first night also for me to be without my Garmin for a while, until the new one arrives. I had an old Timex Iron man watch that had 30 laps. I ended up just replacing the battery and I had to go the old school way. No pace, just time. It was easy on the track since it is measured. It will be a problem when I run on the roads. I'll have to figure out the distance, the old way I used to do it: drive the route and use my odometer. It should work.

On Thursday I took a rest day. Even with the modified speedwork plan, I felt my body could use this day to recover.

Friday was a glorious day. A lovely running buddy of mine let me borrow her Garmin 405CX until I get my new watch. There is a God. I love you Myrna! Thank you! Incidentally she is training for her 3rd Marathon which is also CIM. She's poised to earn her BQ at CIM.

I had a pace run scheduled this weekend and I was a little worried about how I was going to be able to hit my paces without the Garmin. Since Myrna allowed me to use hers, I was so excited that I decided to move the pace run to Friday and rest Saturday instead. After work I hurried home as the light was getting shorter nowadays. I decided to use my Turri course again since I was happy with my previous results. This weather has been erratic this past few days. Tonight was very cold and windy--not complaining. This is my ideal kind of weather.

Half a mile into my warm-up, I was chased by 8 turkeys. Out of nowhere they chased me with their gobbling noises. I tried to out run them but they were relentless. It dawned on me that if i continued running, I could possibly outpace them but I still had to pass this way again to go home. If I didn't turn around soon I would be on tired legs. If they were still here, possibly I wouldn't be able to outrun them on fatigued legs. So I sucked it up and yelled to startle them so that I could make my getaway. The leader kept chasing me. Only when I feigned kicking him did he back off, while yelling at him to go home. Then I thought, "Do turkeys even have ears?"

After this scary episode, I decided, the rush hour LOVR would have to do--I was running out of light but I persevered. I was wishing I had my headlamp with me, but then again the only one I had is busted. so I really need to get a new one soon. This run made me realize that I need one badly for safety reasons. It was hard to run fast in the dark. I was relying on the headlights of oncoming cars to light my path.

My run was cut short by 1/2 mile, due to the darkness. I wanted to do 9 miles of pace, but I ended up with 8.56 miles at 8:54 pace. It was windy on the way back and I was fighting to keep my form. My eyeglasses were fogging up and I had to do frequent stops to wipe it dry because I couldn't see. Yes, there were a host of issues that should have kept me from running but this is the kind of effort I live for. I'll say this was a successful effort.

Considering I had such a good run on Friday night, Saturday was a rest day. I took this day to make sure I was recovered from my 1/2 marathon race 6 days ago. Afterall, Sunday is going to be a big day. My first 20 miler of the training cycle.

I met my fellow CIM runnng buddies, Myrna, Linda and Dave for the Sunday long run. We decided to run the San Luis Obispo Marathon course. It has some hills that would be good practice for CIM. We started out close to 6:45am. It was still dark. I had somewhat of a restless night, as we experienced a little earthquake in the middle of the night. Nothing big, but enough to rattle my cages. I woke up at 4:30 and had my usual breakfast of oatmeal with banana with raisin and coffee. I took my 20 oz of water and 2 water flasks of 8 oz each. So about 36 oz of water, which turned out to be not enough. Note for next time, bring more.

I was intending to do 18 miles as my longest mileage for this training cycle. However, I wavered and gave into adding 2 more to make 20 since I was running with others. Upon finishing, I was reminded of why I wanted to run just 18. It seems adding two last miles should be easy. What's 2 more miles, right? The body starts to fatigue after 3 hours of running. I've read that the risk for injury becomes exponential after the 3rd hour and that running beyond the 3rd hour offers little benefit--the law of diminishing returns comes into play. Also, the fatigue you feel after the run can linger on for 2 days,so you are forced to recover and sacrifice quality runs for the rest of the week. With 18, you can bounce back by Tuesday and go for speed workouts by Wednesday. So for the next 2 long runs, I will stick to my 18 that I have originally planned. I don't regret doing the 20. In fact, I'm glad I did. It was a good reminder why I wont want to do it for next time. I have 6 weeks left so there's plenty of recovery time.

Can you see him?

Don't move buddy, I'm just going to take your picture...

Okay, is it a llama or what?

In the end, I completed 20 miles at 9:36 pace with 18 miles at 9:31 pace. Not a shabby effort. I like the fact that we started at 11:00 pace for the first mile and gradually picked it up until we were averaging 9:44 pace by the halfway mark. Closer to the end, I whittled the pace down some more with a negative split long run.

About Me

Living the "SLO" (San Luis Obispo) life, I feel so lucky to live four miles away from Montana de Oro State Park. Abundant with trails, the Central Coast is heaven on earth. Running is my passion. I am a middle of the pack runner and proud to be so. I run as much as I can, when I can, while I still can. I love the cold air against my face and the steady sound of my beating heart. I never take each day for granted. Happy trails!